About
The 50th Annual Meeting of the Developmental Neurotoxicology Society (DNTS) is June 14th-17th, 2026, at the Hilton Washington DC National Mall The Wharf.
Meeting Registration
Conference events are open to members and non-members.
Meeting Program
Social/50th Celebration Food, beverages, DNTS trivia, games! Tue, June 16 6:30-9:30 pm
Mentoring/Career Discussion Lunch Monday, June 15 noon
Awards & Distinguished Speakers
Elsevier Distinguished Lecturer
Nathan A. Fox is Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology at the University of Maryland. He conducts research on the effects of early experience on brain and behavioral development in infants and children. He has studied the biological bases of social and emotional behavior developing methods for assessing brain activity in infants and young children during tasks designed to elicit a range of emotions. His work is funded by the National Institutes of Health where he was awarded a MERIT award for excellence of his research program. He is one of three Principal Investigators on the Bucharest Early Intervention Project. Dr. Fox was awarded the Distinguished Scientific Investigator Award from the National Association for Research in Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD) and was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Association for Psychological Science and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Patricia Rodier Mid-Career Award for Research and Mentoring
Epidemiology of Congenital Heart Defects: Differences in Burden Across Communities and Population Groups
Wendy Nembhard, PhD, MPH
Dr. Nembhard is professor and chair of the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), Fay W Boozman College of Public Health, and a tenured professor in the UAMS College of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics in Little Rock, Arkansas. She is also the director of the Arkansas Center for Birth Defects Research and Prevention.
This award honors the legacy of Dr. Patricia Rodier, a past President of the Developmental Neurotoxicology Society and a Council member of the Society for Birth Defects Research and Prevention. The award is presented during the annual meetings of the Developmental Neurotoxicology Society and Society for Birth Defects Research and Prevention. The awardee will give a presentation related to his/her research at a jointly sponsored session at the annual meetings. It is intended that the presentation will serve as a demonstration of independent mid-career research in neurobehavioral teratology, birth defects, or other related fields.
Richard Butcher New Investigator Award
Cumulative Childhood Lead Exposure Estimation and School-Age IQ in a Prospective Birth Cohort
Aimée Vester, MD, PhD
Dr. Vester is a board-certified pediatrician and a NRSA T32 Research Fellow at Cincinnati Children’s. Her research focuses on the impact of environmental toxicants and psychosocial factors on child health outcomes utilizing longitudinal epidemiological data. Clinically, she serves as an attending physician at Cincinnati Children’s Environmental Health and Lead Clinic and Fairfield Primary Care Clinic.
Each year, DNTS offers our Richard Butcher New Investigator Research Award to the best paper by a new investigator in the field. The paper must be published or in press in any peer-reviewed journal during the particular calendar year. The applicant must be first author of the paper and either a current student or have completed their degree within the last 3 years.
Robert L. Brent Lecture
The Rise of Regulatogens: A Crisis of Insouciance and Dilettantism in the Regulatory DART World—And How We Must Fix It
John M. DeSesso, PhD Principal Scientist, Center for Health Sciences, Exponent
Dr. DeSesso has more than five decades of post-doctoral experience specializing in developmental and reproductive toxicology, general toxicology, anatomy, and risk assessment. He earned his doctorate in Anatomy and Teratology from the Medical College of Virginia (now VCU School of Medicine). He has authored more than 130 contributions to scientific journals and chapters in professional texts.
Josef Warkany Lecture
The Ever-Changing Female in Toxicology
Ralph Cooper, PhD Quality Scientific Solutions
Dr. Cooper is the former Chief of the Endocrinology Branch, NHEERL USEPA. He is currently a Principal Consultant with Quality Scientific Solutions, LLC, out of North Carolina. During his research career spanning almost 50 years, his primary research interests have been female neuroendocrine physiology, ovarian function, reproductive senescence, endocrine disruption, and DART.